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Prospera, the duchess of Milan, is secretly denounced as a sorceress and usurped by her brother Antonio, with aid from Alonso, the King of Naples, and is cast off in a small boat to die with her three-year-old daughter Miranda. They survive, finding themselves stranded on an island where the human beast Caliban is the sole inhabitant. Prospera enslaves Caliban, frees the captive spirit Ariel and claims the island. After 12 years, Alonso sails back to his kingdom from the marriage of his daughter to the prince of Tunisia, accompanied by his son Ferdinand, his brother Sebastian and Antonio. Prospera, seizing her chance for revenge, with Ariel's help causes a tempest, wrecking the ship and stranding those on board on her island.

The film, based on the play of the same name by William Shakespeare, is written and directed by Julie Taymor. The play's main character is Prospero, .[2] Taymor explained the casting decision, "I didn't really have a male actor that excited me in mind, and yet there had been a couple of phenomenal females – Helen Mirren being one of them – who [made me think]: 'My God, does this play change? What happens if you make that role into a female role?'" Taymor held a reading and found that the story could accommodate the change of gender without being gimmicky.[3]

In Shakespeare's play, Prospero was the Duke of Milan. In the adaptation, Prospera is the wife of the Duke. She is "more overtly wronged" than Prospero; when the duke dies, Prospera's brother Antonio (played by Chris Cooper) accuses her of killing him with witchcraft. Antonio makes the accusation to be rid of Prospera and claim her royal title. Taymor said, "She had her whole life taken away from her because she was a woman." Prospero wants to prevent the same thing from happening to her daughter.[4]

The film has received mixed to negative reviews from critics; Rotten Tomatoes maintains that 30% of 86 reviewers gave a positive review with an average score of 4.6/10.[6]Entertainment Weekly said the film – "theatrically ambitious, musically busy, and in the end cinematically inert – clearly reflects the authorship of myth-loving director Julie Taymor."[7]USA Today found that "Mirren keeps the film on track. But incomprehensible shouting and pointless shenanigans obscure subtle moments."[8] In a similar vein, Newsweek said "the film's special effects, to a surprising extent, add little to the story", and that "next to the concise power of [Shakespeare's] language, the screen wizardry of even a resourceful director like Taymor seems like rough magic indeed".[9] However, The New Yorker's David Denby pointed out the film's strengths, most particularly Helen Mirren's performance as Prospero: "Mirren has the range and power to play a woman with unprecedented control of the elements, and over men, too."[10] Sandra Hall in The Sydney Morning Herald is more generous toward Taymor's vision, saying, "In the scene that explains the circumstances of mother and daughter's banishment from the dukedom of Milan, Taymor has skillfully tweaked Shakespeare's lines to take account of her new scenario", and praising the film's visual elements.[11]